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IQ and Gameplanning Topic

I took over a division III team that has next to nothing coming back. I had a decent recruiting class with a couple of juco's coming in. I'm also changing both offense and defense which means practically all of my IQ's are very low. My computer generated schedule has me starting off with at team that I outclass by far in skill and ATH so I know I would normally run uptempo offense. My question is, should I still do this even though my IQ's are so bad? I know I'm in trouble against even mediocre teams but if I'm by far the better team what should I do?

I'm wondering by not going uptempo would create more of a problem. The reason I say this is because in uptempo, they are basically taking the first good look at the basket(correct me if I'm wrong). If you're in a half court set, passing the ball around, five, six, seven passes later, there is more margin for error.

If the team you're playing if Texas Tyler, I would definitely go uptempo. They are a bad defensive team, running uptempo will put your team at the line more often and force them into foul trouble.

Posted by thewizard17 on 1/10/2014 12:25:00 AM (view original):I'm wondering by not going uptempo would create more of a problem. The reason I say this is because in uptempo, they are basically taking the first good look at the basket(correct me if I'm wrong). If you're in a half court set, passing the ball around, five, six, seven passes later, there is more margin for error.

If the team you're playing if Texas Tyler, I would definitely go uptempo. They are a bad defensive team, running uptempo will put your team at the line more often and force them into foul trouble.

The amount of passes made during each possession will not differ much between up-tempo offense and normal tempo offense. By running your offense up-tempo, your players are going to be trying to get the ball up the court faster by running the floor and making quicker more aggressive passes in order to get an open look created using less time off of the shot clock. The main objective is to get more offensive possessions and take more shots. This can easily lead to more turnovers because of the aggressive nature, unless you really over match the other team and your players are blowing by the defenders because of speed and athleticism. Depth in up-tempo offense is a key factor. As your players fatigue, which will be much faster in up-tempo offense, your team turnovers will go up. You would need to use 11 players at least in your rotation to combat this. I say all 12 is better. If you don't clearly over match your opponent in speed and athleticism you will most likely turn the ball over a lot more then if you were running at a normal tempo, A normal tempo offense will ensure that your players are making smarter passes and will be using more time off of the shot clock to make sure that they are taking the best look possible.

If you have all low offensive IQ's then it is probably not a good idea to run up-tempo because your players are not experienced enough to make the right pass in a quick situation as well as understanding how to move without the ball correctly to get open. You are going to subject them to a more advanced way of running your offense and they are going to face the challenge with more offensive possessions then they would normally run with a normal tempo.

One possible way that you could benefit from more possessions is if you have a solid team low post attribute, solid team free throw shooting, and you know that your opponent is going to defend you with a negative perimeter D to take away the inside. This would have to be coupled with a less then par team defensive that you are facing. By taking away the inside they will put your team on the line more often as long as your team is not turning the ball over and actually getting shots attempted.

I think a good general rule of thumb is to run a normal tempo when you team offensive IQ's are still low. Unless your players have great BH, PAS, SPD, and ATH to help offset the low IQ's.